Coast Guard Responding to Engine Fire on Containership Off California

A Unified Command consisting of the U.S. Coast Guard, the State of California, and commercial salvage company Resolve Marine are responding to reports of a fire on board a containership approximately 50 miles west of Monterey, California.

The containership NYK Delphinus contacted Coast Guard Sector San Francisco watchstanders at approximately 4:54 a.m., reporting an engine fire aboard the ship. There are 24 people onboard and no reported injuries.

AIS ship tracking data showed the vessel as being “Not Under Command” and drifting southward parallel to the coast at a speed of about 2 knots.

A Coast Guard patrol boat, USCGC Sockeye (WPB-87337), is attending the vessel.

Earlier, two Coast Guard Air Station San Francisco MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crews arrived on scene at 9:26 a.m. local time and transferred a dewatering pump to NYK Delphinus’s crew. A Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento C-27 Spartan crew was also on scene providing surveillance.

Resolve Marine has contracted five tugboats to assist. 

Photos released by the Coast Guard show smoke coming from the ship’s superstructure around the funnel.

AIS shows NYK Delphinus was traveling from Fraser River, Canada at the Port of Vancouver to Oakland, California. The ship is about 295 meters in length by 32 meters wide. It’s registered in Liberia and was built in 2007.

“The Unified Command’s priorities are the safety and well-being of the crew, controlling the fire, and mitigating pollution,” the Coast Guard said.

This incident follows an engine room fire on the MV President Eisenhower in California’s Santa Barbara Channel in late April. In that incident, the vessel drifted towards shore but was rescued by a tug and towed to the Port of Long Beach for reports.